updated 09:10 am EDT, Wed March 21, 2012

HTC and Beats may expand music strategy

Beats Audio's rumored takeover of MOG could be the foundation of a very different approach by HTC to reviving its cloud music aims. A rumor emerging Tuesday had unnamed Digitimes sources anticipating an HTC service launching in the second half of 2012, with partly-owned Beats handling the brunt of the service. Unlike the one-time HTC Listen service, it would be a "cross-platform, cross-device" option.

The Taiwan site claimed that HTC had "denied" the report, although it promptly added that Beats was technically independent and wouldn't comment in either direction whether or not Beats was buying MOG. It's implied that Beats may simply have been tasked by HTC with creating the music service by any means needed and that MOG was a fast-track route.

HTC itself has been making deeper inroads into media services, such as investing in Saffron Digital and launching its own movie store, Watch. Typically, however, it has consciously limited its services only to its own Android devices, which some have considered a liability where even Apple provides access to iTunes on desktops.

Neither Beats nor MOG has been willing to confirm or deny talks, although MOG has been publicly broadcasting that it's open to a sale. The streaming audio service is available on iOS along with Android and could create an unusual situation where a Beats- or even HTC-branded service could run on Apple hardware.